Little Black Dress
by Heart Full of Elves
Summary: Tosh considers her options. Missing scene from Greeks Bearing Gifts.


_**Note: I wrote this on 30/12/14, while I was on holiday. I ended up writing six fics, five that focus on Tosh, who I've hardly written about before! It was amazing. It's almost like I forgot how to Janto, which is impossible, since I still thought about them every day. **_

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It's been a long time since Toshiko Sato didn't know what to wear. But here she is, standing in front of her wardrobe with her hands on her hips, wondering how she should dress tonight. This is all new to her: sleeping with another woman; learning what her colleagues think in their subconscious; seeing Mary when she's always liked Owen; keeping secrets from Jack, her boss and hero. It makes her feel hot and cold all over at times, knowing that what she's doing is wrong (she isn't being honest with her friends, she hardly knows this woman she's shagging, and her parents would never approve of their daughter having intercourse with a member of the same sex) but it also excites her, having something for herself. She's never been selfish before.

Tonight, Mary's taking her out clubbing. The idea of it is far outside her comfort zone – Tosh, a woman in her early thirties who spends most of her free time playing with computers and alien technology and feels nauseous in big crowds, is not the sort to go to nightclubs. But somehow Mary has convinced her to let go of her inhibitions and commonsense, and now it's too late to make up some excuse not to go. She isn't sure if she likes how easily Mary can persuade her to change her mind, isn't sure she's right to be in a relationship, no matter if it's just a fling, with someone who has so much power over her. Tosh isn't the type of woman to be easily swayed, but Mary manages to sway her nonetheless.

But she doesn't let herself dwell on that; for the moment she pushes those dark thoughts to the back of her mind and tries to focus on picking out an outfit. Winter is not far off, the days slowly getting cooler, but it's mild enough that she won't freeze if she bares some skin. And the idea of baring a little skin – because she knows what that will do to Mary – is very appealing. She wants to wear something that will show off her legs (she's been told more than once that they are one of her assets) so it looks like a dress will be her best option, since grown woman do not wear mini-skirts, thank you very much, and she doesn't own any shorts either.

Her dress collection is almost non-existent, which limits her options even more. There's the nice purple frock she wears to parties and family gatherings (not that she makes it to many of those, since Torchwood is much more than a full-time job) but it's too boring and it covers her knees. She also has a dress that she wears to weddings and other special occasions, but it's too formal, not to mention plain. Sighing, Tosh wishes it weren't so late in the evening – if the shops weren't all closed, she'd go shopping for something new. She knows she's not like most 21st Century middle-class women in that she hates browsing for clothes, but when she has something in mind, she takes pleasure in hunting that item down and making it hers.

Before long she's biting her nails and pacing in front of the wardrobe, trying desperately to think of any other clothes that might be hidden somewhere in her flat. She must have _some_thing she can wear! Usually she knows exactly what to put on, so being stumped like this increases her blood pressure and creates a funny feeling in her stomach. She's used to being in complete control of herself and her style, ever since Jack got her out of that UNIT prison and she got a hold on her life again, and doesn't like being undecided. This isn't her.

Or maybe it is.

Maybe meeting Mary has changed her for the better. After all, the inability to choose what to wear is a common problem for women, isn't it? What if all this has made her more… normal, made her less of a misfit? Despite the secrecy that surrounds their relationship, perhaps this is the best thing that's ever happened to her. Wouldn't that be ironic, if the thing that makes her different from anyone else on Earth also makes her just like everyone else? A smile makes its way onto her lips at that possibility.

The smile freezes as something dark catches her eye on the other side of the room. She turns and crosses over to the bed, where a garment is lying in the middle of it, atop the luscious red sheets. Unable to believe she didn't see it earlier, she picks up the note on top of it and reads: _For my gorgeous Toshiko. Knew you wouldn't have anything to wear for tonight so I got you this. Looking forward to seeing you in it. M xxx_

Putting down the note, she lifts up the garment and takes a good look. The little black dress is short, shorter than anything she's ever seriously considered wearing before, and low-cut, with thin straps. Under the bust is a strip of gold, and it's so simple and classy and _special_, because Mary bought it with her in mind, that Tosh's eyes become bright and sparkling. The dress is perfect.

Undoing the fluffy towel that's wrapped around her, she puts on her one pair of lacy underwear and slips into the dress. She then notices the pair of strappy heels on the floor in front of the bed, and sits down to put them on. _How thoughtful_, she thinks.

It's then, as she's doing up the shoe straps, that she wonders how Mary knew her dress and shoe size. It's also then that she wonders how Mary even left these things in her flat, because she didn't give Mary a key, and they left together this morning. How did Mary know she would like the dress, when Tosh doesn't own anything like it and they've never talked about fashion sense? It made sense that Mary knew Tosh's personal information when they met, like her birthdate and the organisation she works for, because that could be found online, but this? No file on the internet mentions that Toshiko Sato likes the colour combination of black and gold and has always wanted (but never had the guts) to wear something short and figure-hugging.

Not for the first time, she wonders just who Mary is. Christ, she doesn't even know the woman's last name! She doesn't know where Mary's from or when she was born or where she went to school or what made her choose Toshiko to chat up at that bar when she could have chosen anyone. She doesn't know why Mary would buy her an expensive dress and shoes.

Or how Mary's family came to own a piece of alien jewellery.

Tosh goes into the bathroom to do her hair and make-up, but that doesn't distract her from the fact that Mary's presence in her life has created too many questions, too many doubts. Before meeting Mary, she always felt secure in her friendships with her colleagues, she always gave people their rightful privacy, she always believed in the beauty that is life. Her grip on the eyeliner tightens without her noticing it, and the result is a shaky outline around her right eye. To fix it, she has to do it again, making the line thicker and her eye appear even darker.

She can't go on like this. She's changing, and whether it's Mary, or the pendant which has the ability to show its wearer people's thoughts, she doesn't know, and she doesn't care. She couldn't live with herself if she kept invading people's privacy and keeping secrets. Tomorrow she's going to demand answers from Mary, and then she's going to hand over the alien pendant to Jack, because he'll know what to do and she can't continue with this deception.

But that doesn't mean she can't enjoy tonight first.


End file.
